


Night Out

by Ree Fireparrot (reefireparrot)



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 20:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11836881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reefireparrot/pseuds/Ree%20Fireparrot
Summary: The Shitennou have been revived, but they haven't been integrating into the team as well as Usagi would have liked, so she proposes a night of fun activities to remedy that. After seeing how important it is to Usagi that everyone get along, Minako decides to do everything in her power to make that happen - even if some people are a little resistant. Background pairings: Makoto x Nephrite, Ami x Zoisite, vague Rei x Jadeite. Cameo: Artemis.





	Night Out

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Shitennou x Senshi Reverse Mini Bang challenge, hosted by CharlieChaplin2; I was to write a story based on the art featured in below, by metym. I wrote this so close to the deadline that I have not been able to do any major editing besides a word choice or rewriting of sentences here and there, so I may revise it later.

Things weren’t going as well as Usagi would have liked.

Usagi had defeated Chaos by reaching out to all the souls it had absorbed and helping them reassert the light she knew they still had in their hearts - the light that Chaos had extinguished and made them forget. Overflowing with power, she made a wish, too, that everyone who had been hurt by Chaos would be granted another chance at life. Little did she know that her wish included those who once served Chaos, their souls twisted for its purpose to extinguish every star in the galaxy. And that included the four men who were once sworn to protect her soulmate until they were manipulated into betraying him and selling their souls to a demon from the sun, a manifestation of Chaos itself.

At first (after getting over the shock) Usagi was delighted that her fiancé’s former friends were alive again. It wasn’t fair, after all, that she got to fight and laugh and cry along with her friends from her previous life, yet Mamoru’s were stuck in rocks, with their last living memory being serving a demon bent on destroying the world. Usagi was more than happy to give them a second chance.

But it soon became apparent that they would not fit as seamlessly into the already-established team as Usagi would have liked. For one thing, the other Senshi weren’t as happy to see their former enemies alive and well as Usagi was, nor were they as willing to believe that they were completely free of evil. Some people (most notably Minako and Haruka) were more outspoken about it than others, but Usagi could tell that even kind, reasonable Ami was uncomfortable with their presence. Zoisite’s attempts at being diplomatic failed to various degrees with each Senshi, but Usagi wasn’t about to give up hope.

What they needed, Usagi eventually decided, was something fun for the ten of them to do together, even if Mamoru was a little skeptical.

“I don’t know, Usa,” he said when she proposed the idea one morning while he was preparing her breakfast. “Both sides have some pretty bitter memories about fighting each other. That kind of thing can’t be solved in one night of fun activities.”

“Maybe not, but at least it’s a start.”

“I know,” Mamoru said, putting a giant plate of strawberry pancakes in front of his fiancee and ruffling her hair. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed if things don’t magically fix themselves. I know you sometimes get your hopes up.”

***

The Prince called a meeting in his apartment while Usagi was out shopping with Minako. Despite his assurance that there was no crisis forthcoming, his men (especially Kunzite) all arrived looking concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Kunzite asked upon entering the loft, not even bothering with a  greeting. He was on alert for a crisis when it came to Mamoru.

“You having relationship problems with Usagi?” Zoisite latched on, though his tone was a bit lighter than his comrade’s. “Why did you call this meeting without her?”

“I doubt he’d call a meeting for something as trivial as relationship advice, Zoisite.”

Upon hearing Kunzite’s words, Mamoru considered his pitch. Initially he was going to try and emphasize how they needed a break, and play up how fun Usagi’s idea would be, but if Kunzite thought a problem between him and Usagi was trivial then certainly a night on the town would be more so. He remembered Usagi’s reasoning and thought that he could get Kunzite’s approval for the idea if he could convince him that the lack of team spirit might affect their youma-killing efficiency, but how to play up how dire the situation was? He cleared his throat, and upon the visible display of nervousness Kunzite’s worried expression deepened. Mamoru avoided his eyes as he began.

“I’m concerned about how well you guys can work on a team with the Senshi,” Mamoru said.

“Is there a threat where we’d need to?” Kunzite asked.

“No, but there might be in the future.”

“Do you sense something approaching?”

“No, but-”

“Has Pluto said something?”

“Well we know something about the future, and-”

“Does the future include enemies?”

“No, but-”

“Then why are you concerned?”

“I just think that it’d be good to, you know, get along better with Usako’s friends.”

“This was her idea, wasn’t it?” Zoisite finally piped up, interrupting Mamoru and Kunzite’s discussion.

“...it might have been.”

“Why didn’t you just say that, man? We’d be on board,” said Nephrite, Jadeite nodding in agreement.

“I wasn’t sure Kunzite would have been.”

“You called a meeting just for a social call?” Kunzite said, prompting Mamoru to make a vague gesture of “see?”

“Come on, Kunzite, at least he isn’t dying or something,” Zoisite said. “This could be fun.”

“We were still lead to believe this was something important,” Kunzite said.

“Or maybe you just always assume there’s a crisis when it comes to our Prince,” Zoisite said. “You need to loosen up.”

“No I don’t,” Kunzite said. “You guys need to take things more seriously. The Prince will be a King soon, and – ”

“Ruling Crystal Tokyo will be a lot easier if everyone gets along,” Mamoru interrupted. “Please, Kunzite? The tension is starting to get to me.”

“Fine,” Kunzite sighed, to everyone’s relief. “Though I still think this is frivolous.”

***

“–and then we’ll go to a karaoke bar to finish off the night!” Usagi pitched to her friends, bouncing on Headquarters’ couch a little.

“I still don’t get why this is necessary,” Rei huffed. “We’ve been getting along just fine until now; we don’t need to get buddy-buddy.”

“But you threatened to catch Zoisite on fire yesterday,” said Usagi. “That isn’t something you do to someone you’re getting along with.”

“It was an empty threat! And completely justified,” said Rei. “If he doesn’t want to make me angry he should stay out of my way.”

“But he was trying to be nice.”

“He was being passive-aggressive.”

“Usagi,” Ami began diplomatically. “I know these men were purged of Chaos’ energy, but we barely know them in this lifetime except as enemies. We can’t just become friends overnight.”

“Yeah, how do we know we can trust them yet?” said Makoto.

“We don’t,” Rei scowled. “Not everyone is as trusting as you are, Usagi.”

 “Why _do_ you trust them, Usagi?” Minako spoke up.

“Because I healed them.”

“But how do you know they weren’t evil to begin with, even without Metalia’s help?” Rei said.

“Because I could feel the light in everyone’s hearts.”

“So you’ve explained to us,” Ami said. “But there must have been trillions of souls, could you really pick those four out specifically?”

“And just because there was some good in them doesn’t mean there wasn’t evil too,” Makoto said. “That’s what lead them to Metalia in the first place, right?”

Usagi pouted. She thought this would be an easy sell with all the fun activities she had planned, but her friends seemed pretty insistent that this wasn’t the brilliant idea Usagi thought it was.

“I just thought they deserved a second chance. They’re Mamochan’s friends, right?”

“They’re _traitors_ ,” said Rei.

“Is it really that important to you, Usagi?” Minako asked gently.

“Yes,” Usagi said definitively.

“Okay, then we’ll go along with it. If they haven’t attacked us yet, they probably won’t this Saturday, and we trust your instincts, right?” she gave the other three a hard look.

“The chances are pretty low,” Ami admitted.

“I guess it could be fun,” Makoto said. “If we’re stuck with these guys we might as well get to know them better.”

“Rei?” Minako asked.

“Fine,” Rei said. “But they’d better behave themselves.”

***

Saturday night approached swiftly, and Artemis still had reservations, which he tried (again) to talk her out of it as she made a fuss over what to wear.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Mina?” he asked.

“You’ve asked me this several times already,” Minako sighed, emerging from the closet after having apparently decided what to wear. “Every day. Usagi thinks it’s a good idea. And even if I thought it was a bad idea it’s too late to back out now anyway.”

“And does Usagi know about your past with Kunzite?”

“No, and she doesn’t need to,” Minako said firmly as she put in a gold heart-shaped earring to complete her outfit.

“She deserves to know if being around your ex is going hurting you.”

“And make her feel guilty?” Minako took one last look in the mirror.

“She’ll feel even guiltier if she knows you’ve been hiding your pain.”

“I’ll be fine, Artemis. You worry too much,” Minako said, her voice soft as she gave Artemis a pat on the head.

Artemis watched out the apartment window as Minako piled into the car with her best friends for a night out that Artemis was sure was going to end badly. _Always thinking of Usagi and never herself_ , he thought sadly.

***

The first thing on the agenda was, of course, food. The royal couple and their entourage met in front of the restaurant early in the evening. Usagi and Mamoru, of course, started to converse immediately, but the rest were extremely silent. Minako could tell Usagi had pulled her eyes away from her fiancé long enough to notice because she was starting to pout again. Minako had to interfere.

“So Zoisite, tell us about your band,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t have one yet. I’m still looking for members,” Zoisite said after a moment, a little surprised at finally being addressed.

“You don’t have any musician friends?” Minako asked.

“I did, but I sort of lost touch with them after I, uh, died.”

“I bet Ami can help you. You’re into music, right Ami?” Minako addressed her friend.

“I wouldn’t call it one of my main interests, no,” Ami replied.

“But you use a musical instrument as your main weapon, don’t you? You can join Zoisite’s band!”

“I don’t think harps are a typical part of a rock band, Minako,” Ami said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Zoisite. “I’ve never heard any rock bands with harps before but a lot of good music comes from experimentation.”

“I still can’t really picture me being in a rock band,” Ami said.

“Why not?” asked Zoisite.

“Are you kidding? I’d get stage fright! And I’ve never really had the reputation for being…you know, a loud…rock star type,” said Ami.

“And what’s a loud rock star type?” asked Zoisite. “Someone obnoxious and arrogant?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that!” Ami panicked. “I mean I’m not all rebellious and passionate. Being loud isn’t necessarily a bad thing and…” Ami trailed off when she realized Zoisite was grinning at her.

“I don’t know, I hear you can be quite passionate when you want to be,” Zoisite said, causing Ami to blush. Zoisite backtracked, “I mean. When it comes to motivating your friends and learning things.”

Ami and Zoisite continued their conversation, which Minako considered a victory. Two awkward turtles down, four to go. She grinned to herself a little and started strategizing for the Makoto and Nephrite, until she caught Kunzite scowling. A subtle expression, but just as in the past, she was an expert on picking up on Kunzite’s subtle expressions. She was tempted to ask him what his problem was, but didn’t want to cause a scene in front of her friends, so she waited until they had paid their bill and were leaving to confront him. The two trailed behind the others, and Minako hissed to Kunzite, “What?”

“Playing matchmaker?”

“Is that a problem?”

“In and of itself, no.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. Your motives are always hidden.”

“This coming from the man who– No, I’m not doing this. We’re supposed to be having fun. That’s all. I just want everyone to be happy.”

“If you say so.”

“Come on, you guys,” Usagi shouted from the girls’ car before Minako could retort. “We still have all kinds of things to do tonight!”

***

“Your fiancé has severely overplanned the evening,” Kunzite said to his Prince as he drove to the go-kart track. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to do all of this in one evening.”

“She does tend to get enthusiastic about her ideas,” Mamoru conceded. “But everyone getting along is really important to her.”

Kunzite noticed the “important to her” instead of the “important to us” as Mamoru had claimed when he first announced the evening’s plans, and didn’t respond. He remembered his suspicion in the past that the Princess had bewitched Endymion, dismissive of the idea at first but lending more credibility to it as Metalia started to take over his mind. He realized now that he had been the one bewitched – and how could he think the Princess had ulterior motives with the Prince after their souls had connected at Chaos’ defeat? – but he still couldn’t help but feel that she was good at getting people wrapped around her finger, whether they were her lover or her friends. That she was good at getting people to sacrifice their own happiness and wellbeing for her. He squelched the thought as soon as he became aware of it, remembering the dark path such thinking had lead him down in the past.

The girls had arrived at the go-kart track first, and Minako was arguing with Rei.

“Being the leader on the battlefield doesn’t mean you get to decide who goes in what car,” Rei said.

“Of course it does!” Minako said. “Part of my duty as the leader is to ensure that we work together as efficiently as possible. And I’ve decided that these match-ups are the ones that complement each other’s abilities the best. This is a great way to build a rapport.”

“Wow, you’re so smart, Minako!” Usagi said.

“She’s ridiculous!” Rei said.

“It seems a little far-fetched, but it doesn’t look like Minako’s going to let this go,” Ami said. “Let’s just go with it.”

“Of course you’d agree to it, you’ve been making eyes at Zoisite all evening!” Rei accused.

“We’ve just been making conversation,” Ami said.

“About you agreeing to let him teach you how to play the guitar? After you said you weren’t interested? Is he really that persuasive or is it his pretty green eyes?”

“Rei, please,” Minako pleaded. “You’re dragging down the mood.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with being taken in by pretty green eyes,” Makoto interjected.

Mamrou cleared his throat.

“Mamochan! Minako’s come up with a great strategy to build a rapper,” Usagi said.

“Rapport,” Kunzite corrected.

“Yeah, that. She decided we’re going to team up based on our abilities! Makoto is going to ride with Nephrite and Rei is going to ride with Jadeite and Ami is going to ride with Zoisite and I get to ride with Mamochan!”

“Interesting.”

Minako looked like she suddenly had a thought.

“Actually, Usagi, I think we should ride together.”

“But I wanted to ride with Mamochan!” Usagi said, then added, “Not that I don’t love you Minako!”

“Clearly not enough,” Minako mock-pouted. After a few more minutes of banter, everyone got into their respective cars, going with Minako’s original plan.

“You wanna drive?” Minako asked Kunzite flatly.

“It makes no difference to me,” Kunzite answered.

“Fine, then I’m driving,” Minako said.

Things were about as awkward as Kunzite was expecting, but he got some grim satisfaction out of the fact that things weren’t going well between Rei and Jadeite, either.

“Do you really have to yell?” asked Jadeite in a long-suffering fashion.

“I am not yelling!” Rei yelled. “I just want you to make up your damn mind!”

“It truly makes no difference to me whether or not I drive. And you aren’t being decisive either.”

“Rei’s a control freak,” Minako intervened. “I think she should drive. You can just sit back and let her do all the work, Jadeite.”

Kunzite rolled his eyes at the obvious innuendo. It wasn’t lost on Rei and Jadeite either.

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate thing to say to someone you barely know,” Jadeite commented.

“Of course it isn’t. Minako’s never cared about whether or not something’s appropriate to say,” Rei said.

“It’s my job as a leader to keep everyone on their toes,” Minako said. “Especially with strategic innuendos.”

“How was that strategic?” Rei snarked.

“Like I said, it kept you on your toes.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jadeite said.

“Don’t bother trying to make sense of any of Minako’s logic,” Rei said, climbing into the car. “Come on, let’s just drive.”

Kunzite got in the passenger’s seat and tried not to get too jostled as Minako drove recklessly around the track, making snarky comments at the other drivers as she passed them, mostly at Rei and Jadeite.

“Are you trying to get them to gang up on you or something?” Kunzite said between rounds.

“Why not? It’s a good strategy,” Minako retorted.

“I still want to know why you’re doing this,” Kunzite said.

“Like I said, I want everyone to get along,” Minako said.

“Do you really care that much about how well we get along?”

“Usagi cares.”

“Ah. It’s about her again, isn’t it?”

Minako stiffened. This was a sore subject between them.

“You’d be willing to sacrifice your friendship with Rei to make her happy?”

“Rei isn’t going to hate me because of a few provocative comments,” Minako snorted. “I’ve said worse.”

“Beside the point,” Kunzite said. “You can’t base your whole life around making one person happy.”

“Better than sacrificing your liege’s happiness because you’re afraid of change.”

Kunzite winced internally. He knew she was right, but he wasn’t about to show her that.

“Don’t,” Kunzite warned.

“Don’t what? Point out that you don’t have the moral high road here? That maybe Rei was right not to trust you? Because you clearly still think the same way about the Princess as you did in the past, why should I believe you won’t turn against her again? Even after she showed you the kind of person she is?”

“That isn’t–”

“Yes it is! You’ve been as resistant to this whole thing as Rei is, but at least she’s open about not trusting you lot. You have to hide behind ‘oh, this is so trivial’ and ‘this won’t solve anything’ but it has everything to do with Usagi, doesn’t it? You can’t stomach the idea that I’ve dedicated myself to her again because you assume I’m giving up on something.”

“You _have_ given up on–”

“On what? Dignity? Happiness? She gave me a purpose in life; she _is_ my happiness!”

“How can you be happy if you’re incapable of being anything but a martyr?”

Minako looked taken aback, and tears were forming in her eyes. She turned away and refused to look at him, and Kunzite knew he had gone too far. The rest of the time at the go-kart track was spent in silence as Minako refused to talk to him and Kunzite tried to think of a way to make up for it.

***

The group decided to skip bowling and go straight to the karaoke bar; it was getting late and Mamoru, Usagi, Zoisite, and Ami could only make up for so much of Minako’s newfound somberness.

A few drinks in (except for Kunzite and Makoto, who were the designated drivers) and the mood wasn’t getting much lighter. Catching Minako’s eye, Kunzite spoke to Makoto.

“You’re planning on opening your own bakery, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?” Makoto answered, surprised and slightly suspicious of his intentions.

“Do you know much about running a business?” Kunzite asked.

“I’ve taken some classes,” Makoto said carefully, seemingly weary of where this conversation was leading.

“Think you could use the expertise of someone who studied business?” Kunzite asked, getting Nephrite’s attention.

“You offering my services without asking me, bro?” Nephrite asked lightly.

“I was doing no such thing. I was simply going to propose an arrangement,” Kunzite said. “You want to run a business and she wants to start a business you have the expertise to run. You could be partners.”

“I don’t know anything about baking or the bakery industry, though,” Nephrite said.

“Would you need to for just the business side?” Kunzite asked.

“It wouldn’t hurt to know the industry,” Nephrite said.

“Well, then do research,” Kunzite said. “And Makoto can teach you how to bake.”

“You’re volunteering _her_ services now too?” Nephrite asked.

“It could be a good way to get to know each other better,” Kunzite said.

“You did say you wanted to get to know him better, Mako-chan,” Usagi jumped in.

“Did you now?” Nephrite asked, slightly amused, as Makoto tried not to give Usagi a dirty look.

“She didn’t say you specifically,” Rei said, though without her usual anger in her voice, having apparently decided that the guys were somewhat tolerable for the evening. “She just said if we’re stuck with you we might as well get to know you better.”

“I guess I did say that,” Makoto admitted.

“I guess I’m learning how to bake, then?” Nephrite directed his question to Makoto.

“Do you even want to, or are you just going along with what your leader says?” Makoto asked.

“Both?” said Nephrite. “It doesn’t hurt to be a well-rounded man. I could teach you a little astronomy in exchange.”

“Astronomy?” Makoto asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I like to stargaze when I get the chance,” Nephrite explained.

“Huh,” Makoto said. “You don’t seem like the type.”

“What type do I seem like then?” Nephrite asked with a slightly playful tone to his voice.

Having gotten Makoto and Nephrite started on a conversation, Kunzite looked over at Minako. She was no longer glaring at him or avoiding his gaze entirely, but she didn’t seem too keen on forgiving him right away either.

“So who’s going first?” Jadeite asked. “Zoi, since you want to be a rock star?”

“Hell no, someone else can embarrass themselves,” Zoisite said.

“Well, you’re going to have to embarrass yourself eventually if we’re all taking turns. I can go on stage with you if it makes you feel better,” Ami offered.

“Thank you for the kind offer, but I don’t think I have enough booze in me to sacrifice my dignity just yet,” Zoisite said, grinning.

“Karaoke bars aren’t known for dignity,” Ami said, slightly amused.

“We can go first, Mamochan!” Usagi said.

“I’m with Zoisite,” Mamoru said apologetically. “I’m far too sober to sing in front of everyone.”

Usagi pouted. “But you’re a good singer! You wouldn’t be embarrassing yourself!”

“So is Zoisite,” Jadeite pointed out. “It’s doesn’t matter how well you can sing, it’s still karaoke.”

“So I assume you’re not going first either?” Minako finally spoke.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“I guess it’s up to me and Kunzite then,” she looked at Kunzite with a meaningful expression that said “this is your chance, don’t fuck it up.”

“Alright,” Kunzite said, getting on stage to everyone’s surprise and some people’s amusement.

“Oh, this’ll be good,” Rei said quietly.

“Or awkward,” Jadeite countered. “He cares more about his own dignity than anyone here.”

“Which is why it’ll be good,” Rei whispered back.

“What song should we pick?” Minako asked.

“How about Achey Breaky Heart?” Kunzite said, surprising everyone even further.

“If you insist,” Minako said, stifling a snicker.

The song started, and Kunzite took the stage as quickly as he could. The point of this song was to be as melodramatic as possible, and Kunzite followed suit. Seeing Minako’s shocked expression, he decided to take it a step further and start dancing awkwardly, but enthusiastically, in place. By the time the song was over, the whole party was completely silent.

“That…was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” Zoisite said, and everyone slowly started laughing.

“Glad you could have fun at my expense,” Kunzite said brightly, with only a small amount of sarcasm. He was addressing Zoisite, but was looking at Minako. He sat down next to her.

“I guess you’re not afraid to make sacrifices either,” Minako said quietly, “if you’re willing to give up your precious dignity.”

“I’m sorry,” Kunzite said. “I shouldn’t have gone as far as I did.”

“No you shouldn’t have,” Minako said. “But with that performance you’ve lightened the mood considerably, and it was the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. So I’m willing to let it slide.”

“Still…”

“We can talk about it later,” Minako offered, before saying louder, “Rei and Jadeite, you’re up!”

“We didn’t agree to that!” Rei protested. “You can’t just go volunteering people!”

The night went on and ended on a high note, despite the rough beginnings. And seeing his men and Prince relax around the Senshi, Kunzite had to admit that Usagi’s wish for everyone to get along wasn’t purely selfish. He could see why Minako was so dedicated to her and why Minako trusted that the Princess would never take advantage of that dedication. Just like he knew Mamoru would never take advantage of his.

Fin


End file.
